An outside straight is a four-card straight draw with a valid completing rank on either end of the sequence. In poker language it is more commonly called an open-ended straight draw. The basic example is 6-7-8-9: any 5 or any 10 completes a five-card straight.
That two-ended structure is what separates an outside straight from an Inside Straight, often called a gutshot. A gutshot normally needs one rank in the middle. An open-ended draw normally has two ranks that work.
The word normally matters. Aces can sit at the low end of A-2-3-4-5 or the high end of 10-J-Q-K-A, but they do not wrap around. A-Q-K-2-3 is not a straight. As a result, not every four-card sequence near an ace is open-ended.
The two-end test identifies an outside straight quickly
Take the four ranks in order and ask two questions:
- Is there a legal rank immediately below the sequence that would make a five-card straight?
- Is there a legal rank immediately above it that would also make a five-card straight?
If both answers are yes, the draw is open-ended.
| Four-card sequence | Low-end completion | High-end completion | Classification |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6-7-8-9 | 5 | 10 | Outside / open-ended |
| 2-3-4-5 | A | 6 | Outside / open-ended |
| 10-J-Q-K | 9 | A | Outside / open-ended |
| A-2-3-4 | None | 5 | Not open-ended |
| J-Q-K-A | 10 | None | Not open-ended |
| 6-7-9-10 | None | 8 in the gap | Inside / gutshot |
The ace-edge cases are where casual explanations often go wrong. A-2-3-4 has four connected ranks, but only a 5 completes the straight. J-Q-K-A likewise needs only a 10. Neither has two legal ends.
Why players often say an open-ended draw has eight outs
With a standard 52-card deck, each rank has four suits. If two different ranks complete the straight, there can be eight completing cards: four of the lower rank and four of the higher rank.
For 6-7-8-9:
- four 5s complete the straight;
- four 10s complete the straight;
- total straight-completing cards: eight.
In five-card draw or video poker, if you hold 6-7-8-9 and discard one unrelated card, 47 cards are unseen. Eight of those 47 complete the straight on the draw:
8 ÷ 47 ≈ 17.02%
An inside straight with one completing rank has four straight-completing cards instead:
4 ÷ 47 ≈ 8.51%
That simple comparison explains why an outside straight is usually a much stronger draw type than an inside straight. It does not prove that holding it is always the best decision.
Draw type and best play are different questions
Poker vocabulary describes the shape of the hand. Strategy decides what to do with the full hand.
In Video Poker, four cards to an outside straight may compete with:
- a made high pair;
- four cards to a flush;
- four cards to a straight flush;
- a three- or four-card royal draw;
- high-card combinations with more value under a specific paytable;
- a made hand that should not be broken.
A player who sees 6-7-8-9 and automatically holds it is using the definition as a strategy rule. That shortcut can be wrong. The correct hold is the one with the highest expected return for the exact five-card deal and the exact game schedule.
That is why a Strategy Chart is game-specific. A Jacks or Better chart is not automatically a Deuces Wild chart, and one paytable can rank borderline holds differently from another.
Outside straight does not mean the same thing as a completed straight
A Straight is already a five-card hand made from consecutive ranks. An outside straight is still a draw.
| Situation | Example | What you have now |
|---|---|---|
| Completed straight | 5-6-7-8-9 | Five-card made hand |
| Outside straight draw | 6-7-8-9 | Four-card draw with two completing ranks |
| Inside straight draw | 6-7-9-10 | Four-card draw with one missing middle rank |
| Ace-edge draw | A-2-3-4 | Four-card draw with only one legal completion rank |
The distinction matters because ordinary conversation sometimes uses “four to a straight” as though every such draw has the same number of ways to improve. It does not.
Known cards can change the practical number of outs
“Eight outs” is a useful starting point, not a law that overrides visible information. In community-card poker, cards exposed on the board are known. In draw games, your own cards are known. In some games, other exposed cards may also be known.
If a completing card is already visible and therefore unavailable, it cannot still be counted as an out. Good probability work counts unseen live cards, not abstract ranks.
This is also why the phrase “eight outs” should not be confused with “eight winning outcomes in every situation.” A card that completes a straight may also complete a flush for an opponent, pair the board, or interact with a stronger hand. Poker decisions compare the entire game state, not just whether your own hand improves.
The video poker calculation is expected value, not hit rate alone
In video poker, a hold is evaluated over every possible draw that can follow it. The useful concept is expected value:
EV of a hold = Σ(probability of each final hand × payout for that hand)
Suppose two candidate holds are available. One produces a straight more often, while the other produces fewer hits but includes meaningful chances at a flush, straight flush, or royal. The higher straight hit rate does not automatically win the comparison. The payouts matter too.
That is the practical reason to separate three ideas:
- draw classification — outside, inside, flush draw, royal draw, and so on;
- completion probability — how often a particular improvement occurs;
- expected value — the average return after all final outcomes and payouts are weighted together.
The Expected Value concept is the one that chooses between competing holds.
A worked video poker example
Assume a five-card deal contains 6♠, 7♦, 8♣, 9♥, and K♣. If the decision is to hold the four connected cards and discard the king, there are 47 unseen cards.
Straight completions are:
- 5♠, 5♥, 5♦, 5♣;
- 10♠, 10♥, 10♦, 10♣.
So the probability of drawing a card that completes at least a straight is 8/47, about 17.02%.
But a proper video poker strategy analysis does not stop there. It asks what each of the other 39 cards produces, whether the four cards share suits, what the paytable returns for a straight, and whether keeping the king with some other subset has more value. The exact five cards matter.
If the four connected cards were 6♠-7♠-8♠-9♠ instead, the hand would also be four to a straight flush. Treating that as merely an outside straight would throw away the most important feature of the deal.
Why the term matters in a casino setting
For players, the term is useful because it compresses a probability structure into two words. For video poker analysts and game trainers, it helps classify holds before expected-value ranking. For poker dealers, the term may come up in conversation, but the dealer does not decide whether a player’s draw is strategically good; the dealer runs the game and reads completed hands according to the rules.
For a casino, mistakes in draw strategy affect actual player return, not the approved theoretical schedule itself. A paytable may have a published theoretical return under a defined strategy assumption. A player who repeatedly keeps lower-value draws can realize a worse long-run result. That does not mean the machine secretly changed its return; it means the decisions changed the distribution of final hands.
Three mistakes that distort outside-straight math
Treating every four connected cards as open-ended. Ace-edge sequences are the classic exception. A-2-3-4 and J-Q-K-A each have only one legal straight-completing rank.
Counting ranks instead of cards. “A 5 or a 10 wins” describes two ranks. In a fresh standard deck that can correspond to eight actual cards. Probability uses card counts, not just rank names.
Choosing the draw before comparing alternatives. A recognizable draw can be tempting to keep, especially on a fast video poker session. Strategy requires comparing every sensible hold rather than stopping at the first attractive pattern.
Outside and inside straights belong to the same probability lesson
An outside straight is valuable as a teaching term because it shows how a small structural change can double the number of straightforward completion cards. Six-seven-eight-nine has two open ends; six-seven-nine-ten has one missing rank.
That difference is real. The strategy conclusion still depends on the game.
For the closest comparison, read Inside Straight. Then continue with Straight, Draw Poker, Hold/Draw, and Strategy Chart to connect the definition to actual decisions.